The World: Indochina: Tough Days on the Trail

WHEN Lam Son 719, the invasion of Laos, began early last month, Defense
Secretary Melvin Laird predicted that there would be "some tough days
ahead." Last week the Communists made good on that predictionwith a
vengeance.

The main South Vietnamese force of 10,000 troops and 100 tanks and
armored personnel carriers sat immobile barely 15 miles inside Laos on
jungle-bordered Route 9. Out on the flanks, where elite airborne and
ranger units clung to rugged hilltop fire bases, Communist toops
launched a series of furious assaults. First blood was drawn at an
outpost...